Overview

In the annals of literature, few volumes of poetry have achieved the influence and notoriety of 'The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs dur Mal) by Charles Baudelaire (1821-67). Banned and slighted in his lifetime, the book that contains all of Baudelaire's verses has opened up vistas to the imagination and quickened sensibilities of poets everywhere.

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Overview

In the annals of literature, few volumes of poetry have achieved the influence and notoriety of 'The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs dur Mal) by Charles Baudelaire (1821-67). Banned and slighted in his lifetime, the book that contains all of Baudelaire's verses has opened up vistas to the imagination and quickened sensibilities of poets everywhere.

What People Are Saying

Norma Cole

“This is the Baudelaire translation for our time—and for all time. Relentlessly straightforward, surprisingly succinct, hilarious and horrifying as they are, these poems have never been as readable in English.”

Cole Swensen

“There are numerous translations of Les Fleurs du Mal in print, but none even approach Waldrop’s-he alone captures the speed and verve of the real Baudelaire.”

Norma Cole

"This is the Baudelaire translation for our time--and for all time. Relentlessly straightforward, surprisingly succinct, hilarious and horrifying as they are, these poems have never been as readable in English."
— Norma Cole, author of Spinoza in Her Youth

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Thus the delight and curiosity of Keith Waldrop's new translation. It's close to plain prose: ‘versets,’ he calls them, paragraphs divided where Baudelaire's stanza's break. It's by no means the first prose translation, but it's the most charming: I don't recall another version, verse or prose, that slips so easily into the comradely 'we.'"—New York Times Book Review

The task of the translator...is to reconcile the strengths of the poet with his new surroundings, setting him in flight with wings that do not impede his walk. In part from the landing on versets, but more particularly from his deftness in English and the depth of his understanding of Baudelaire, Keith Waldrop has created a Flowers of Evil that, one gesture, can come to terms with the new needs of poetry readers in English and the foreignness of the language of Les Fleurs du mal."—Rain Taxi

"Waldrop's translations soar...perhaps getting closer to Baudelaire's rich tone than any other English translation."—Chicago Review

Related Subjects

Meet the Author

CHARLES BAUDELAIRE (1821–1867) wrote some of the most innovative poetry of the nineteenth century, in books including Les Fleurs du Mal and Le spleen de Paris. KEITH WALDROP is author of numerous collections of poetry and is the translator of The Selected Poems of Edmond Jabès, as well as works by Claude Royet-Journoud, Anne-Marie Albiach, and Jean Grosjean.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

The modern literary spirit was born out of the measured angles so carefully calculated by Laclos. He was the first element discovered by Baudelaire, who was a refined and reasonable explorer from a privileged background, but whose views on modern life contained a particular madness.
Laclos delighted in inspiring the corrupt bubbles that rose from the strange and rich literary mud of the Revolution. Like Diderot, Laclos was the intellectual son of Richardson and Rousseau, and his work was continued by Sade, Restif, Nerciat - some of the most notable philosophical storytellers of the late 18th century. Most of them, in fact, contained the seeds of the modern spirit, and they were poised to create a triumphant new era for arts and letters.
During this nauseating and often brilliant era of Revolution, Baudelaire mingled his spiritualistic poison with the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, a strange American, who had composed, in the poetic field, work which was as disturbing and as marvellous as the work of Laclos.
Baudelaire then is the son of Laclos and Poe. One can easily untangle the influence that each exerted on Baudelaire's prophetic mind and on his work, both so full of originality. As of this year, 1917, when his work enters the public domain, we can not only place him in the front rank of the great French poets, but also award him a place alongside the greatest of universal poets.
The evidence for the influence of the cynical writers of the Revolution on Les Fleurs du Mal can be seen everywhere in Baudelaire's correspondence and in his notes. When he decided to translate and adapt Poe's works, strangely, he found a higher lyricism and moral feeling than he had thought was present in the writings of the marvellous Baltimore drunkard and his prohibited readings.
In the novelists of the Revolution, he had discovered the importance of the question of sex.
From the Anglo-Saxons of the same era, such as de Quincey and Poe, Baudelaire had learned that there were artificial paradises. Their methodical exploration - supported by Reason, the revolutionary goddess - enabled him to reach the lyrical heights towards which the mad American predicants had directed Poe, their contemporary. But Reason blinded him, and he abandoned it as soon as he had reached the heights.
Baudelaire then is the son of Laclos and Edgar Allan Poe, but a son who is blind and insane...

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Customer Reviews

SeraJane

Posted April 4, 2012

Fantastic!

I've been studying French for a while and I really wanted to find a copy of The Flowers of Evil that had the original French text. I love that this copy has not only that, but it parallels it with English text to make comprehension that much easier. It also has plenty of notes that explain a lot of Charles Baudelaire's hidden meanings in his writing which I found extremely enlightening, as well as a biography on the man himself. It's a fantastic version, and I'm more than happy with my purchase and will definitely check out the Oxford World Classics series again!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted October 26, 2002

greenish verse, like summer sleepiness

"Now is the time to get absolutely drunk! On wine, on virtue, on whatever you may please." -Baudelaire. read it and believe that God has a darkside that is beautiful.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Anonymous

Posted October 25, 2001

Read,Read,Read!!!

This was such an excellent book it blew me away!!! The way he put his thoughts into words was incredible. A must read book. I give it 10 on 10!!!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Marcabru

Posted November 7, 2014

Almost Perfect

Good English renderings that sing. I have an older Heritage Press collection with some of the same translations (Millay, Squire), but this collection boasts more recent poets like Fitzgerald, Kunitz, Wilbur, and Huxley. I still like the older collection: it's a little more archaic and therefore more Gothic, but these fresher translations do leap and soar and claw their ways out of the pages, too.

This is the only edition I've found that includes Baudelaire's prefaces. They alone make this book a must-have.

As with all ND books, this one is of archival paper, as God (or Satan Trismegistus) intended.

It's too bad there are no end notes. Otherwise, this might be a perfect scholarly (and portable) edition of the Flowers.

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